Once in awhile, a label would put out a compilation album or two and in 1990 and 1993, Roadrunner Records released At Death’s Door and At Death’s Door II. These two compilations were huge to fans, giving us a look into a dozen different bands at a low price without having to hunt endlessly, and a lot of the time unsuccessfully, for some awesome new death metal. Unspeakable Axe Records have seemingly payed respect to these two Roadrunner comps. with their  4 Doors to Death split, released earlier this year, featuring four of the labels acts, each contributing a few songs of deathly pleasures.

First up is Cemetery Filth, sporting members from both the Tennessee and Georgia areas, this four piece bring more than a competent mix of old school death metal with their three contributions to this four way split. “Consumption of Volition” gets things going nicely, and one can easily hear a mix of influences ranging from Cancer, Morbid Angel, Gorefest, and Benediction (ex-Benediction growler, Dave Ingram, actually lends some guest vocals to this track). It’s a good song, but nothing you haven’t heard done many times over, yet groundbreaking isn’t what Cemetery Filth are trying to be, so how could one fault them for that.“Dagonian Dialect…the Obelisk Unearthed” follows with a simple beginning of rung out chords and a slow delightfully melodic lead with a slight evil flair. There are some really appealing guitar tones here too, just clean enough to really pull out all the riffs and changes. Honestly, the track recalls many different artists all at the same time, from Death to Autopsy to (old) Edge of Sanity, but it mostly makes me feel like Morbid Angel‘s “God of Emptiness” had been re-worked with an Altars of Madness controlled chaos type of vibe. Cemetery Filth close out their part of 4 Doors to Death with “Cosmic Wraiths”, and its slight Grave/Swedish death metal influence, though without the full HM2 worship.

Alabama’s Ectovoid chime in next with just two entries into this split, the first being “Ash Primordial”. Sporting a dirtier tone than Cemetery Filth, Ectovoid also wield a sound steeped in old school, though far more Incantation in their presentation. The track features some splendid droning evil riffs and even a tad bit of that suffocating Nile-esque vibe. At just under six minutes, the track feels too long and could have benefited in cutting it back a minute or so. Ectovoid follows it up with “Possessed by Ancient Dread”, which still retains the massive Incantation influence, but is easily more interesting than “Ash Primordial”. Beginning much like Judas Priest‘s “Between the Hammer and the Anvil”, it’s a slower to mid-paced track with thick riffs and haunting little melodies. Plodding along in great fashion to about the half way point, the song picks up just a smidge, not fast by any means, before closing things out with a nice tortured growl/death rattle.

Third to bat in this metal four-way is the Canadian act, Sabbatory. These Winnipeg deathsters contribute two songs to 4 Doors to Death, one being a pretty spot on cover of Mortuary Drape‘s  “Primordial”, so you know what you’re getting there. That makes “Ascension to My Holy Tomb” the only original track by Sabbatory, and while it’s not the most original, it is a damn fun listen. Again, rooted in the old school sound like the majority of  bands on Unspeakable Axe’s roster, Sabbatory rock an early Pestilence and Asphyx influence, especially in the vocal department. The track has a raw/organic, fun, and rollicking thrashy death sound to it and pulls you in with its genuineness. Its nice use of simple dynamics rocks out with just a dash of Swedish death in its tone and style, and the song really moves forward in successful fashion. It’s catchy and fun, kind of like Scream Bloody Gore era Death playing an Impaled style of metal.

Closing things out on 4 Doors to Death is Philadelphia’s Trenchrot. If you are not already familiar with their thrashy take of Asphyx meets Bolt Thrower meets Death meets Autopsy, then I feel for you…I really do. “Hell Pilot’s Call” starts out with a slower, drawn out death dirge that really brings to mind an Entombed/Dismember, with a bit of old Gorguts, vibe in its structure. The song is ominous, yet burly in its dissonance, panning out to be more than just a bash and dash effort. “Powerful Kandarian Steel” follows things up with a nice little Evil Dead themed rager. Speedier momnents morph into slower, chunky change ups  that surround and promote the song’s central ideas, while tortured chants of “Klaatu Verata Niktu” rise and fall, and a simple yet powerfully effective solo  rips its way through your eardrums. It’s a great track that ends in dreadful forlorn, setting up both Trenchrot’s final contribution and the split’s last song with a more than apt cover of Death‘s “Evil Dead”. The cover is spot on, tight, and accurate as fuck, actually enhancing the original with some added lead work and harmonizing in places. In all honesty, this cover is probably the best song on the entire split. That isn’t a diss to any of the bands, but more of a nod to how Chuck Schuldiner’s songwriting really was special and ahead of everyone else.

All in all , 4 Doors to Death is a fun way to check out a few different, great bands while not breaking the bank. While it pays homage to those old and awesome compilations from back in the day, it ultimately achieves a more cohesive listen than said comps. and honestly, is just a really good time.

Please let us know with whom we are speaking with today and what kinds of equipment you use to achieve your sound?

This is Steve (Guitars/Vocals). As far as guitar equipment goes, I used my Marshall TSL 100, which has a few slight mods with an Ibanez TS808 (Tubescreamer) in front of it and an Electric Amp Company cabinet. The guitar used for my parts was a Jackson Soloist.  Brooks used a BC Rich Ironbird with a Peavey VTM100 head and a Marshall cabinet. I don’t know anything about the drums. Oh, there was also a shitload of beer involved, too.

Your debut album, Necronomic Warfare is outstanding! How has the response been and what went into recording the entire album?

Thank you! The response has been extremely positive so far. The album has had a lot more great reviews than bad or lukewarm. As far as recording, it really has no business sounding as good as it does. We actually recorded the whole album at our practice space, which is in a basement. That being said, I think that we all did a great job capturing the sound that we wanted to achieve. I really have to hand it to Rich (Scott) who did an amazing job working with such limitations.

You increased in brutality from your demo, Dragged Down to Hell, which as a bonus, is also included on your album.  Was this a conscious decision by the band and can we expect this style to continue on your next album?

That’s really good to know and thank you, but no, we didn’t make any conscious decisions other than that I think we just began gelling together more as a band during the writing process, so the quality of the material went up. The way we work together is very simple and not overly thought out. The goal is to just make urgent and crushing old school death metal and will continue to be from here on out. As far as the next album, you can expect more of the same as we have no intentions of trying to break new ground in Trench Rot.

I love how the album alternates between Asphyx/Autopsy/Bolt Thrower with vicious blast beats thrown in.  Some people would scoff at including blast beats into such an older school approach, yet you guys do a wonderful job of incorporating them-your comments on this?

Anyone who would scoff at it is probably a bit of a try-hard as Altars of Madness is loaded with blast beats! However, when it comes to incorporating them it’s all just a matter of keeping the song moving and flowing. I overuse this word, but again, urgency is key or at least a huge part in making any good metal song, in my opinion. Also, variation is a big one. I get bored pretty quickly and if bands aren’t developing a riff or moving on to a section that will break things up in a way to avoid monotony.

How did the deal with Unspeakable Axe come to fruition and how are you satisfied with them, as of now?

From what I understand Brooks sent the Dragged Down to Hell demo to Matt at Dark Descent. Matt got back to him and said that he really liked the demo but that he really should send it to Eric at Unspeakable Axe as he thought it would be right up his alley. Sure enough, Eric got back to us and wanted to do a full-length. We are extremely satisfied with how things are going. He is a really cool dude has been busting his ass and promoting the shit out of this record as well as has been incredibly easy to work with.

So explain the Philadelphia scene at the moment, a lot of bands playing your brand of extreme music and how are the shows?  Any upcoming gigs with national acts, for you guys?

The Philadelphia scene has a lot of metal and punk bands of various sorts and there are shows going on all the time. There are a few death metal bands but I wouldn’t say any of them do the style that we do. As far as live Trench Rot shows we have yet to play any. This will happen at some point as we would love to play some fests or something like that but it just hasn’t happened yet. Brooks and I also play together in an epic doom metal band called Crypt Sermon that plays out and I have a dirty speed metal band called Infiltrator. On top of all of these projects, we all have day jobs.

If one was preparing to get their boots ready for a Trench Rot live show, but had never been to one before, what could they expect at the show?

Well, again, we haven’t played any yet, but when we do I can only hope it will be like getting crushed by a fucking tank.

Regarding the album cover, what is it meant to represent?  I do notice the inclusion of the Bolt Thrower symbol, nicely inserted onto the flag.

Brooks did the album art. If you look at it closely it will remind you of a poster for a classic B movie. This was very deliberate. Also, the chaos wheel in the flag is more or less just an ode to old crust punk, which is where most of what we do comes from to some degree. Bolt Thrower was very much a part of that.

There is a huge increase in the amount of bands playing an older school style of death metal right now.  How do you guys separate yourselves from the rest of the bands out there and how do you plan on increasing your sound, development and live skills in the future?

A lot of bands have been bringing back HM-2 pedals, which we noticed when starting the band and decided that that was something we wanted to avoid. That’s not to say that not any of them do it well and we love Left Hand Path just as much as the next guy, but we just wanted to do something else. I would say it’s pretty clear where and who we get our sound from. As far as increasing our sound, I feel that this will happen from just writing better songs.

Are you guys fast song writers and take us into the development of writing the title track which is a real long song.  Can we expect these songs in the future?  I mean by and large your songs are of decent length.

We wrote this album rather quickly and it was mostly collaborative. One or two of us would show up to practice with some riffs ideas and we would all just sort of bounce them back and forth until we solidified a song. There were a few songs where a member would more or less write an entire song at home and then present it to the band at practice. The title tack was Brook’s brainchild and from what I understand he wrote it rather quickly at home on his computer. To answer your question on more songs like this, I would say yes.

 When playing a live show what’s it like to look at the crowd that knows your music and lyrics?  Does it make you play harder and do you expect audience participation?  If the crowd is lame and no one is there, does it make you want to pack your stuff and leave?

We don’t know about that yet. However, we are all pretty seasoned as far as performing with other bands in our day and it definitely is rewarding to see people getting into it. After all, that is why you are performing. When a crowd is shitty I still do my best but am definitely not as enthused as I would like to be.

The music industry is really tough, so is this a long term commitment for you guys?  Are you prepared for the highs and lows the industry can throw at a band?

We are all heavy metal fanatics in this band and are absorbed by it most of the time when not at work. However, with Trench Rot we just want to stick to getting together and making killer old school death metal and not worry nor care about anything else aside from that. We would be the biggest morons in the world and absolutely out of our Goddamn minds to try and make a living off of a band like this.

Any final comments/thoughts for our readers?

It’s Monday evening and my brain is already mush, unfortunately. Nothing funny or witty to say but thanks for all the support.

http://trenchrotdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Trenchrotdeathmetal

http://www.unspeakableaxerecords.com/

Asphyx, Death, Entombed, Pestilence, Master, Celtic Frost, Possessed and a healthy dose of thrash can be heard on Necronomic Warfare’s 11 no nonsense songs. it would have been perfectly suited amid some of the recent FDA Rekotz releases (Slaughterday, Harm, Morfin, Skeletal Remains, Chapel of Disease) as it sounds old school in a natural, organic way rather than try too hard or focus or one sound (ie the Stockholm buzz).  It’s got a dusty, musty guitar tone, that sounds great without being too retro or too forced.

The raspy strained vocals of Steve Jansson channel Van Drunen/Schuldiner/Reifert and the riffs simply worship all the aforementioned bands to a T.Whether it’s the killer gallop that surfaces near the end of “Gustav Gun”, the Celtic Frost lope of “The Most Unspeakable of Acts” (replete with Tom G Warrior styled “grunt), doomy, Asphyx-like crawl in “Mad Dogs of War”, killer opening canter of “Sickening Devotion”, quick thrash stab of “Maddening Aggression”  or Bolt Thrower rumble/Entombed trot  of “Necrotic Victory”, it’s all satisfying stuff.

At 48 minutes, the album is a shade too long considering the simplistic style so a little after the eighth track, the Autopsy meets Asphyx -ish 7 1/2 title track, complete with 90 keyboards I start to wane, and things start to repeat, despite the fun I’m generally having. To be fair, the last 3 tracks are added demo tracks from the 2013 “Dragged Down to Hell” demo, so the natural cut off makes sense.

Think of Trenchrot as a cheaper, less star riddled and more raw and older school version of Hail of Bullets, down to the warring themes, but it is certainly worth your time and a nice release for Unspeakable Axe.

Cultfinder – Hell’s Teeth EP (Eldritch Lunar Miasma)
http://eldritchlunarmiasma.bandcamp.com/album/hells-teeth

Shroud of Despondency – Tied to a Dying Animal (Self-Released)
http://shroudofdespondency.bandcamp.com/album/tied-to-a-dying-animal-3

Insain – Enlightening the Unknown EP (Kaotoxin)
http://listen.kaotoxin.com/album/enlightening-the-unknown

TrenchRot – Necronomic Warfare (Unspeakable Axe)
http://trenchrotdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

Omnivore – S/T (Unspeakable Axe)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Omnivore/265473320143668

* THE SUBMISSION FORM WILL BE ACTIVE UNTIL MARCH 31ST, 2014 *

Clawhammer PR|Unspeakable Axe Records |Kaotoxin Records|Eldritch Lunar Miasma Records